Danger Among the Shadows
by JediStarMoonstruck
Summary: Someone who is throught to be dead finds himself surronded by people he thought dead or never knew existed. Now he must get used to the new ways, pretending to be dead and begin to fight the Vong once again.
1. Prologue

Hi all! This is my first story here on FF.N. This is the first fic I posted online (it's in progress over at the Jedi Council Forums). Hope you enjoy it!

You can also see the entire first part on my website!

Major NJO AU.

Characters from the movies and books (of course! :p), OCs.

Summary: Someone who is throught to be dead finds himself surronded by people he thought dead or never knew existed. Now he must get used to the new ways, pretending to be dead and begin to fight the Vong once again.

Disclaimer: All the characters (execpt the OCs), planets and anything else I may have missed belong to George Lucas. I would be having a long talk with GL if I had premission to do this. ;) :p

* * *

Part One: A New Life

Prologue

The Force brought him into its healing embrace. Light absorbed into his skin, repairing injuries and restoring him to life. But the Force had an unavoidable problem; the injuries sent the boy into a coma at the same time it took him into the healing process.

The result sent a shockwave into the Force, causing all those who could feel it to believe the worst. To make matters even more grave, the coma and the healing trance caused the boy to be void of all life signs. As the boy lay healing, but with all appearance to be lifeless, those around him mourned.

---------------------------------

_He ran toward the Light. He had to get to the Light. Suddenly, the Light changed…into blond hair. The blond hair was crying. He wanted to get to the hair, to hold it, to comfort it, to say it's okay._

_But the Light came back and brought him into its care. He let the Light take him and forgot the blond hair for the moment. He never heard the hair whisper, "Anakin…"_

* * *

More coming soon! I've got up to Chapter 20 written (there's about 40 chapters! :O ).


	2. Chapter One: Doing it First

MistiWhitesun: Sorry! I hope it won't be after this!  
  
Tim Knispel: The reason is I've got to separate them so I can add the chapters to ff.n (I'm new to this!).  
  
Also, I haven't read any of the NJO books. Chewie's 'death' upset me greatly and I went through a depression because of it. I refuse to read the books because I'm afraid that I will go into another depression. The reason I'm writing this is because the Plot Bunny wouldn't let go! My beta on the JC Forums helped me with the NJO parts.  
  
Thank you. I hope the rest does. I've written this for the past two years and my style has changed since then. Oddly enough, I edited this chapter before I posted it! :O (must put this verison on my website now. :O )

* * *

Chapter One: Doing It First, Asking Permission For It Later  
  
The Admiral looked at his computer, studying a report on defensive shields. It was boring work, not what he expected when he took the job eleven years ago, but it was better than what he had been doing before: nothing. If he had the choice, he would not be here at all. He would be with the other half of his family, people he had never met. Sadly, he had no choice in the matter and he could not leave the family he had here.  
  
The door buzzer went off and the admiral called, "Enter." The door opened and in stepped fourteen-year-old girl. Her thick, long brown hair was down making her face very small and shadowing her already dark brown eyes. She had light purple glasses (she called them eye-enhancers) on her face that fell a bit down her nose. She was very tall for her age, but her body was small and thin. She was wearing a white tunic with white cloth pants.  
  
The girl walked up to the desk and stood at attention as if she had something important to say to the admiral.  
  
He glanced up at the girl and then back to his report. He wondered why she was here; she had never entered his office before. He shut down his holoprojector and looked up at the young teen. "So, Ladora, what brings you here?" He asked casually.  
  
Ladora looked at the man with very serious eyes. "Admiral, sir, I wish to speak with you on a highly important matter."  
  
Hiding shock at her formal approach to him, he responded, "I see. What do you wish to speak with me about, Commander?"  
  
She took a deep breath and let it out. He knew this routine. Whatever this was about, it was not good. "I wish to form a strike team."  
  
The admiral was puzzled, but had a suspicion of what she was looking for. "A strike team? For what purpose?"  
  
"To combat the Yuuzhan Vong."  
  
He sighed. He knew it. Ladora had to pick something like that. "I am afraid I cannot authorize that. It is against the law, something you should know very well about."  
  
"The Council would not have to know, sir."  
  
"But they will find out, at sometime."  
  
Ladora abandoned her formal stance and placed her hands on her hips. "I could have the file on it buried so deep that the Vong will be gone for years by the time the Council found it."  
  
_You're in Intelligence. Of course, you could bury the file, but that's not the point_, he thought, but did not say that aloud. Instead, he asked, "And you're willing to take that risk?"  
  
"Been in trouble before, can't see why I should stop now."  
  
He leaned back in his chair, running his hand though his blond hair. What else could he do? "What would this team require, Ladora?" said the man, giving in.  
  
At that, the girl brightened, a smile spreading across her face. She took out a datachip, leaned over and put it in the holoprojector. Ladora turned on the holo, displaying a person wearing silver clothes, gloves and boots. The person also wore a silver helmet that had three purple stripes on it, one on the top and two on the sides that reached to the back. The holo image had two blasters handing in holsters and a lightsaber hanging from a silver belt.  
  
"This is the uniform I plan on using, so I'll use it as an example. The team will create their own outfits. There will be four members, including me, that will actively battle the Vong. Five others will be on hand for emergency. The active ones will have two blasters, two gauntlets that will include several chemicals and tools, and a lightsaber, which will be our primary weapon. The team's codename will be 'Shadow Jedi' and each of the members will have codenames. No one will find out," said Ladora.  
  
The admiral looked at the holo and took in what Ladora said. She had planned this out and it might work. But 'might' was the keyword here. "Who is going to be the other members on this Shadow Jedi strike team?" he asked even though he thought he knew the answer.  
  
"Ken will be my captain and second-in-command, Caiya will be last in command because she says it's not proper for her to lead unless Tygeris tells her she can, Lenny and Lusa are going to be healers, Chewie is going to be our mechanic, and Rene and Talon..." she shifted from one foot to another. "well, I haven't thought about what they will do, yet."  
  
_Just as I thought. And they know the risks and won't say anything_, he thought. "Very well," he said, smiling just a bit, "do this, and, maybe, you can make a difference with the Vong."  
  
"Thanks, Dad," said Ladora. She took the chip from the holo and turned to leave.  
  
It was when she reached the door that something occurred to the admiral. Ladora had only mentioned eight members.... "Wait, Ladora, one more question." She stopped and turned. "Who is the ninth member?"  
  
Ladora looked down at her feet. That was never a good sign. "He's in the med center. He was hurt. Badly."  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
She looked in the direction of their private med center, which was the last room down the hall. "He's most likely going to wake up soon. He might need someone there to..." she hesitated, "someone to talk to him, to tell him."  
  
But those were no answers. The admiral put his hands on his desk and looked at her with his stern blue eyes. "Ladora, I repeat, who is your ninth member?"  
  
Ladora gave him a long that told him she had purposely broken the law again. "Anakin Solo." She turned around, opened the door, and turned left toward the med center.  
  
The man looked at the open door and then at his desk, unsure what his feelings were at the moment. That was Ladora; she did something and then asked permission or forgiveness later. There were times he was not sure what she was capable of anymore.  
  
The admiral got up. Someone had to be there when Anakin Solo woke up. Someone had to tell him. To tell him that he could not go home.

* * *

Just for a warning, Anakin will go through much worse than this. ]:)


	3. Chapter Two: Telling Anakin

SoloKenobi: Thanks! After this update, the other updates may be slow. I'm working on another fic and I really should type up the next chapter to Danger as the readers (that I have) over at the JC haven't had an update in three months. :(  
  
MistiWhitesun: Still sounding the same? Wow! Great minds think alike. ;) I still hope it will part from yours, but I'm glad that you're not too mad about it. Thanks!   
  
Tim Knispel: Thanks! Well, that's good.  
  
So I'm not the only one who went through a depression? Glad to know I'm not the only one (wish it never happened at all, but...).  
  
Very little of what's going on off this planet (find out that today) will be seen. The reason is I'm trying to get Luke and the others into a place where I can write them without using NJO a lot. They won't appear until the last chapters of part one.  
  
Well, three people reviewed. That's more than I normally get over at the JC (not that I'm not grateful). I think I'm getting back into this story (only after I changed the ending AGAIN!).

/frustrated sign/

I can't help it sometimes.  
  
This chapter only needed to be edited a very little. I liked it very much when I wrote it and didn't see anything wrong with it. :)

As I said, I'm going to take my time with this as I'm going to update once again with where I left off over at the JC. This could be a once a week update. Sorry!

* * *

Chapter Two:  
Telling Anakin  
  
He saw nothing but light. A bright and powerful light. His eyes were closed but that white light shone through his lids.  
  
Pain, but that was just a memory, something he felt long ago. The darkness that came with the pain was gone as well. It was like a nightmare that would never go away. The pain and darkness, no, no, don't think about that. The nightmare was over, gone. This white light here, no more pain and no more darkness. But wait, what's this?  
  
A face? A face with long blond hair. Who was it? Did they know him? Now that he thought about it, who was he? He had no idea who he was. He tried to think back to his last memories. Only fragments came back, a brown headed person, no, two brown headed people, one with long hair and another with short.  
  
Jaina, was that the longhaired one's name?  
  
Jacen, the shorthaired?  
  
Jaina, Jaina, his sister?  
  
Jacen, Jacen, his brother?  
  
Yes, yes, that's it. Jaina was his sister and Jacen, his brother. They were running, running from....what? Some creatures, he couldn't remember what they were. Pain, the pain had come from there! But what caused it? Tahiri. The blond headed person. Tahiri, it was Tahiri. Oh, no, Tahiri! Tahiri!  
  
"Tahiri!" Anakin Solo sat up in his bed, looking around for his friend. "Tahiri, where are you? Jaina, Jacen, where are you? Where's Tahiri?"  
  
"Easy now, take it easy, you have been through a rough time."  
  
Started, Anakin looked at the speaker. He was tall and blond headed with bright blue eyes. The man was wearing a uniform, one that he didn't recognize. It was green with dark green stripes going down the sleeves. The light green pants completed the uniform and there was a symbol on the right breast pocket, but Anakin could not figure out what it meant. He seemed to be very familiar to the young Jedi, but he could not put his finger on what that was.  
  
"Who are you?" asked Anakin, trying to get to the bottom of the mystery. "Where am I? Where are my friends?"  
  
The man smiled, apparently amused with the barrage of questions. "You are on the planet Naboo and you are in our private med center. You were very badly hurt in the battle. The staff says you are very fortunate to be alive."  
  
As much as he was annoyed at not having two of his questions answered, the notion of a planet he never heard of captured Anakin's attention. He would get to his other questions later. "Naboo? I've never heard of that planet before."  
  
The man chuckled, "I doubt you would. Naboo hasn't been in the galactic eye for a very long time."  
  
"How come?" the now curious young Jedi asked.  
  
"It was when Palpatine took over. The Naboo were horrified that one of their own - "  
  
"This is Palpatine's homeplanet?!?"  
  
"Yes," the man nodded sadly, "Horrified that one of their own was capable of doing something so traitorous to their own principals and ideas, instead of going up against him or even protesting the act, the Naboo hid. Sent a virus through the computer database which erased the coordinates of Naboo and all mention of the planet."  
  
The man sighed, "The Naboo went through a one battle for their planet and the Clone Wars. I guess the idea of another war was too much for them."  
  
As the man was saying this, Anakin got up, slowly, so not to alarm the man, and walked up to him. He wanted to see what could be familiar about him. "But didn't they want to stop him?"  
  
The man grimaced, "Yes, they wanted to see him stopped, but in a different way. You see, Anakin, the Naboo are pacifists. They don't like war. They hoped to see Palpatine brought down by peaceful means. But," he said, softly, "they did not get their wish."  
  
Anakin nodded, "I understand...sort of, but why didn't Naboo show itself after the war and join the New Republic?"  
  
The man looked at Anakin, leaning against the wall, "Well, Anakin, some wanted to, but there were a few who were against it, agruing that the Republic could be dragged into another war. Because of that fear, laws were established to keep the people from going to the Republic."  
  
"If the majority wanted to go to the Republic, why didn't the people stop it?"  
  
"Because the people voted to have a council of governors make the laws and they trust that council. It used to be that the people voted for a queen or king to rule them. But the ruler that the people wanted wasn't around, so the governors got power."  
  
"Oh, ok," Anakin said, as he moved back to sit on his bed, "so when do I get to leave?"  
  
The man took a chair and sat down. He wasn't looking Anakin in the eye. "There was a law established several years ago to prohibit people from bringing outsiders here."  
  
"It's all right, I won't say anything about Naboo, you can trust me."  
  
"I know you won't, but this law was created to stop the person who brought you here from doing this very thing. This person is also starting a project, but if the council finds out you're here, then she will be in trouble. An uproar over this law will prevent it from developing or could even stop it altogether. You will be able to help with it, but your presence must be kept secret."  
  
"But - " Anakin said, trying to hold back tears, "my family and friends, they'll be worried."  
  
He finally looked Anakin in the eye, he looked very sad. "I'm sorry. They think you're dead."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"You were badly injured. You went into a coma and, at the same time, automatically entered a healing trance. It caused a shockwave in the Force and many people thought you had died."  
  
"No, no, that can't be." With that one thought in his mind, Anakin moved to the center of his bed. He brought his knees up and laid his head on them, the tears that he held back now flowed down his cheeks. _No, I can't stay, I have to go home. I have to,_ he thought desperately.  
  
The man went up to him and placed his arms around the young Jedi, trying to comfort the boy. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm so sorry, Anakin." He sounded as if he was struggling to hold tears back.  
  
But Anakin had not heard him. He was lost in his own sorrow. _I'll never see my family again, he thought, never again._ Anakin whispered, more to himself than anyone else, "I'll never see them again!"

* * *

Trust me, this is the least of Anakin's worries at the moment. I put the kid through every nightmare possible and I mean nightmare. ]:) 


	4. Chapter Three: Friends, Family and a New...

My beta reader is looking over the next chapter so I have some time to update this. :)

SoloKenobi: Thanks!  
  
MistiWhitesun: /bangs head on wall/ Ok, I looked at yours and I can safely say that, while the concept is simular, how we go about with the plot is different. I can't believe this!

As for the beginning of the chapter, it wasn't intended to be thoughts or a dream, but something in between. However, I tried it out in italics and it did look better. Sorry about that. Won't happen again.

And I wasn't stuck, just caught up in my second fic and school work (and sad because of the lack of reviews for it :( ).

Here we go!

* * *

Chapter Three:   
Friends, Family and a New Home

Sitting on the other side of the medic, unable to hear what was being said, Ladora observed through the open door her father comfort Anakin. Guilt began to fill her as she felt shock and overwhelming sadness come from the young Jedi. Her fault, it was her fault that he was here, but if she hadn't got him out of there when she had, then Anakin Solo definitely would be dead.

If there had been the option of warning the others that Anakin was not dead, she would have done so in a heartbeat. But, at the time, even she had not known whether or not he really was dead. It had only been when they had taken Anakin and Lenny checked him did they find out he was in a healing trance and coma. By the time they learned that, however, it had been too late to send him back.

"Ladora, hey Ladora!" Ladora arched her head back to see the sandy-haired woman coming toward her. "Hey," the young woman said and then noticed her face, "what's wrong?"

Ladora leaned back forward on the bench. "That," and she pointed to the room where her father and Anakin were talking again, "is what's wrong, Rene."

"Stop beating yourself up about it," said Rene, her blue eyes looking more knowledgeable than her supposed twenty years, "If you hadn't done it, they would've burned him and-"

"I know, I know, but I still feel I should've done something, I don't know, less drastic."

Rene arched her eyebrows in surprise. "This coming from the girl who sent Lenny to the bacta tank because he wouldn't stop talking about politics."

Ladora snorted, "He had it comin'. He knows that I hate politics. He should know not to talk about it in front of me."

At that point, another wave of shock, this one laced with disbelief, came from the room. Rene and Ladora looked toward the two. "So he told him. That goes completely against the law," said Rene. The woman had a strict mindset on rules and the law. People often commented that she acted just like her father.

"Didn't have much of a choice," Ladora reminded her. "He has to stay here now."

Rene looked down at her feet, shaking her head disapprovingly, but then her head shot up, "Oh, I forgot! Teneniel Djo wants to talk to you."

Ladora felt a shiver run down her spine. She did not like the thought of the Dathomir Witch turned Hapan Queen wanting to talk her, "Why?"

"Well, let's see," Rene started, sarcastically, "You kidnap her from Hapes, take some of the poison in her, inject it into one of your Advanced HRDs, and let that droid replica of her 'die'. And, to top it all off, you tell her she can't go home. Gee, I wonder."

"I guess she wanted to die, then?"

"No, I think she thought she would've gone home once it was over with. She didn't think she was going to be kidnapped. So going to talk to her?"

"Where's Lenny?"

Frustration flickered through the older girl's eyes, "That's it. Put it all on your twin brother."

Ladora smirked. For a brief moment, the feelings of guilt went away, but they came back full force when her father and Anakin coming toward them. The two girls stood up. Ladora felt her guilt triple at the sight of Anakin. His eyes were red from where he'd been crying and, even though he was staring forward, looked like he was in another world.

Her father had his hands on Anakin's shoulders, guiding him toward the girls. "Ladora," her father said, as they stopped in front of the girls, "I want you to take Anakin to his room." Ladora nodded. "Anakin, this is Rene, a family friend," Rene smiled and stuck out her hand, but withdrew when Anakin did not respond, "and this is Ladora, my daughter." Anakin looked confused and stared at Ladora, then at her father, and back at Ladora. "I am sure you will be fine here, Anakin."

Ladora smiled, fought her awkward feelings and took the younger Solo's hand. Anakin allowed himself to be lead away. An uncomfortable silence prevailed between the two. A word was not exchanged until they reached the hallway that led to Anakin's room.

A door opened and shut. Both Ladora and Anakin turned to see who it was. Standing there in pale blue robes was Ladora's curly, black haired twin, Lenny. "You're awake," said Lenny, when he saw Anakin, "and up, too."

"Yeah, he's up and well," injected Ladora, "Listen, I need you to do something."

"Uh, it doesn't have anything to do with what I said to you on the ship?" said Lenny hastily; "I mean we are treading on slippery ground, kidnapping everyone in the galaxy-"

"No." Ladora resisted the urge to slam him in the wall. "Tell Teneniel Djo why we can't send her back."

"But-" The boy looked horrified at the idea.

Ladora crossed her arms and glared at him. She had been able to dominate her older twin for as long as either could remember. Her parents were never happy when she did something (like break his arm) when he did not do as she asked or for no apparent reason.

No limbs were going to be broken today, through. "Okay, okay. Just don't hurt me." Lenny walked away, dejectedly. "Nice to see you up, Anakin. I'll see you later."

"Bye," he said for the first time since leaving the med center. He then threw Ladora an accusing look. "What did he mean about you hurting him? And what's this about kidnapping people?" he asked.

"It's nothing important." She started to walk away. "On kidnapping people…It's either that or they die. Not much choice there. Besides, if we hadn't 'kidnapped' you, you would be dead right now. They had a funeral pyre for you."

"How did they have one without my body and is there anyone here I know?

"I'll explain another time," said Ladora, grinning

mischievously and not answering his last question, "Let's get you settled in first." Ladora turned right and stopped at the door a few steps away. The talk with Lenny had distracted Anakin, but now his face was back to its sad state.

Ladora looked around as she felt around for the cardkey. _I need something to distract him._ Then she saw a metal ball in a stand on the opposite window. _That's it! _ She used the Force to lift the ball and she turned to Anakin, cardkey in her hand, "Duck."

Anakin looked at her oddly. "What?"

"Duck."

Anakin looked around and then ducked down, the metal ball narrowly missing him. Ladora caught it easily. Anakin rose up slowly, his eyes wide and mouth open, "How did-? I didn't-. How-? I never even sensed it coming. How did you do that?"

Ladora smiled and used the Force to levitate the ball back to its place. "Fourteen years of Jedi training, that's how."

The young Jedi just stared at her. "Fourteen? How old are you? When did you start training?"

"I started at two weeks old."

"Two weeks?!"

"Yeah." She slid the card through to open the door. Maybe she should tell him that her 'training' was not what he was thinking, but she decided not to. It was a lot more fun this way. "That was early," she said, playing around with him, "considering that in the Old Republic, children who were thought could be Jedi were found out after six months and before one year."

She turned around when she got no answer and saw Anakin in the door in complete shock. "Here, however, children go to Jedi day schools at one," she explained. "At thirteen, they come to the main temple here in Theed and are placed in master classes. We can't assign one apprentice to one master because of the purge. There are too few masters so it was worked out for masters to choose the apprentices they want to be taught in their classes."

Anakin walked in the door, still looking shocked. "That is different from Uncle Luke," he said, softly.

Ladora shrugged. "It is. But it's still very different from the old order. The old order took children from their homes and brought them to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Both systems are better than the old way, in my opinion.

"No offence or anything, but Luke's way of teaching leaves out a lot. Not his fault, of course, but we're going to give you a crash-training course on what you've missed. Being who you are, you should learn really fast. You'll start in two weeks"

Anakin still looked stunned, but not offended. "Ok. Um…what happened to Tenel Ka's mother?"

"She was poisoned by her mother-in-law," she started bitterly, "When we found out, the first minute she was alone, we took her and put an advanced human replica droid look-alike in her place. The droid 'died' soon after. We made sure that everyone thought the real Teneniel Djo had died."

She paused. She might as well tell him now. The more she explained now, the less she had to explain later. "You were easier to get a hold of; everyone thought you had died because of the shockwave. Once you were alone, we took you and put an advanced HRD look-alike in your place. Lenny checked you because we thought you had died as well. If we hadn't made sure you were dead, I likely would be answering to my mother right now. However, by the time we had finished and knew you were alive, it was too late, your friends had burned the droid."

As she explained, they walked into the main living suite. Anakin sat down on a dark green chair and sighed, "And you had this project…"

"Yeah, I thought of this about a standard month ago and had started planning for it. I just asked permission to do it." Ladora grinned and so did, for the first time, Anakin, "As soon as we had you, it seemed like you would be perfect for it. So you want to help us?"

"Will we fight the Vong?"

"The Vong will learn the definition of run from us." Anakin's smile faded as he processed the information she gave him. Ladora watched nervously as he thought. He looked back from where he had come and then at Ladora. _That head thing is getting annoying_, she thought, but refrained from doing anything. Anakin was new here, after all. _And Mom would throw me in a supernova if I do anything to him._

Anakin, grin returning, got up and held out his hand, "I'm going to trust you. Don't know why but I am. Count me in."

They shook hands. "Well, let's see your new room." Ladora had hardly been here since the place was reserved for the Solo family if they ever arrived on planet (She told Anakin this who only nodded), but it looked a lot like her where she lived. It even had a balcony that overlooked the waterfalls. The two walked through the dining area, which was colored the same as the living suite (dark green) and the cooking area, which was all in silver.

Another living area greeted them upstairs once again in dark green. Anakin looked at the bedrooms made for him and his siblings, trying to decide which one he wanted. Anakin chose one with a skylight. Ladora left him there, telling him to get some rest. Her mom had made plans for Anakin for the next week. All and all, it could not have been a great day for Anakin, but at least it turned out better.

The best thing for Ladora, however, was that her remorseful mood disappeared.

* * *

I feel like I'm rewriting this entire fic (likely I will). Next chapter will be quicker: I edited that last Dec! :D (It was a mess!)


	5. Chapter Four: The First Invasion

MistiWhitesun: Anakin goes through a lot of moments where he wants to be with his family (Tahiri more so!), but, as you guessed, he's coping the best he can. :)

Anakin won't sneak out. Someone else tried that and he failed miserably (and Anakin knows about it, too)!

Too many characters. /raises hand as she has the problem, has no idea how to handle it and will likely never try, too./

One of the best things about posting here is that these chapters have been edited before. Unless I rewrote it, my beta reader has looked over all of this.

Are you suggesting me not posting until I get a review here or in general? I ask because if it's in general, most Jedi Council users are put off by that tactic. Sadly.

I like active readers. I wish I had more of those. :p I write with detail because that's how I'm used to writing. I read Harry Potter and I notice whenever I write after reading one of those books, I write better. :p I'm weird!

No, don't shut up! This is fun! :D

Tim Knispel: You will so get your wish. Chapter Four is the longest ever, I think (seven pages in Word). However, it has a lot of detail and backstory I have to get out of the way so it might be boring.

This chapter has a history. It was terrible when I first wrote it. This is the first one where a good hunk of my characters appear and, since most haven't appeared before, they had to be introduced or, in some cases, have more detail added (like Rene's backstory). So I rewrote it and my beta understood a lot of it better than she did when she first edited it. I don't think she understood the first one at all (that's bad : ). Anyway…

I have to say that part one of Danger is very boring. Like I've said before, I'm trying to get to a point where I can write without going into great NJO info.

Have fun!

* * *

Chapter Four:  
The First Invasion  
  
It had been a week and it had been the best week in a long time for Anakin. He had been given a private tour of Naboo, with visits to Otoh Gunga and to a tour of Naboo's history museum where Anakin had learned all about his grandparents. Now he was walking down the hallway to Ladora's lab to be briefed on his new mission. The entire team would be there, but the meeting was more for him than anyone else. Despite the tour, he was still the most ignorant member of the group.   
  
"Hi, Anakin!" The young Jedi turned to see an old friend galloping toward him, "How was your first week off?"   
  
Lusa slowed to a trot as Anakin started to walk again, "It was all right, and I also learned a lot," he said, thinking of his family's past.   
  
"You'll learn about the Vong today and trust me, it is fascinating."   
  
Anakin nodded, but he was very interested in how Ladora could find so much on the Vong when the NRI and other information gathering services could not. "Uh, Lusa, you wouldn't happen to know Ladora's plan?"   
  
The centauriform shook her head. "Lenny told me that after they got and replaced me with a RD, she started making up the plan. He said the first goal was the Voxyn Queen but since your team took care of that, the plan changed."   
  
"Well then, how did she, uh, 'kidnap' all of us?"   
  
But at that point, the pair arrived at the lab. Ladora stood in front of the lab's door. She looked at Lusa. "Aren't you supposed to be somewhere?" she asked.   
  
Lusa wore a blank expression, but then she looked surprised. "Oh! I forgot about that!" She turned and trotted down the hall. "I'll see you soon, Anakin!"   
  
Anakin focused on Ladora. "So what are we doing?"   
  
Ladora did not say anything. She beckoned him into the dark lab. Anakin followed. The door behind him closed and he could no longer see her. "What are we doing?" he asked again.   
  
"We're going to have some fun with this. Just stay where you are no matter what," said Ladora's disembodied voice.   
  
_Fun is being briefed in the dark?_ This was strangest briefing Anakin had ever experienced. All of a sudden, a holo turned on, filling the entire room, displaying two similar shaped galaxies. He almost stepped back, but stayed where he was told. He recognized one as the galaxy he lived in.   
  
"As you may have noticed, one galaxy is ours. The other is the Parallel Galaxy. It resides in…I guess you would call it another dimension. You get to it via black holes, but only with special shields."   
  
The holo changed and Anakin felt his insides turn upside down. He found himself on Sernpidal, a Sernpidal about to be destroyed. He glanced up and saw the _Falcon_ flying away. Reluctantly, he looked down and saw Chewie, battered and wounded, fighting something he knew he could not win. _No! Not this!_ Anakin started to back away.   
  
A tall, blond, seemingly eighteen year old boy ran passed him. Anakin realized who it was: Ken. A Jedi Prince who had lived the first twelve years of his life with droids, journeyed with his uncle, mother, and father, and then, not long after finding out he was the grandson of the Emperor, went missing. Anakin had found out Tygeris, a Jedi from the old order, had taken him to his home planet of Tygarea. When Ken left the planet eighteen years later, he found himself looking like a thirteen-year-old due to the fact time was much slower in the Parallel Galaxy.   
  
"Chewie!" Ken yelled. The Wookiee turned toward the Prince. He did not seem to recognize him. "It's me, Ken! You remember!"   
  
The Wookiee roared and tried to walk over to him.   
  
Ken grabbed Chewie's arm and slapped a red device on his bandoleer. "Come on! We have to hurry!"   
  
Anakin looked upward as Ken and Chewie came toward him. The _Falcon_ was far away. No one on board would be able to see the events on the ground.   
  
Ken and Chewie passed by him and everything changed. He was no longer on Sernpidal, but on a ship. A black hole was in front of him and it slowly closed. "Ladora!" yelled Ken, "Get us out of here!" The ship moved forward and Anakin heard Chewie moan. He turned to see the Wookiee, but the scene faded away. The darkness came back.   
  
"That's how we got Chewie. You were a lot easier to get to than he was," said Ladora's voice again. "We had to replace you with an HRD so no one would notice you were missing. We did this with some others too. That's not easy at times."   
  
A holo appeared again. This time it was of a planet, one Anakin did not recognize. The holo zoomed toward the planet and he saw creatures with gold shields and, underneath them, some kind of meat. Something fluid-like flowed between the shields and the meat. The creatures seemed familiar, but he could not place them.   
  
"You remember what Waru did, don't you?" asked Ladora.   
  
Anakin then remembered what the creatures looked like. It was the same creature he had been nearly sacrificed to as a child. "Yes."   
  
"Waru was a Gobbleter. He fell into one of the black holes and came into our galaxy. A Gobbleter's body structure enables them to pass through them unharmed. Others have to rely on Cayia's people who created technology to pass through. It's a crystal that form the black holes and can be taken with you at all times. They also created a shield to protect you from the black holes."   
  
Anakin was standing over the planet again. A ship appeared, a Vong ship. Anakin watched in horror as the planet below him fell to the Vong in a short battle.   
  
"The Parallel Galaxy was invaded 1,000 years ago. No one paid much attention when Gobbler fell. It was when the Armornites fell that the rest of the Parallel Galaxy, what was left, took notice."   
  
The holo turned to a different planet and different creatures. These creatures had what looked like a white skeleton metal body. The Armornite's feet had three yellow points that looked to be two feet long. The chest had splashes of purple but it was the arms that Anakin took notice of most. The right arm was a sword that, in reality, had to be three feet long. The left arm had what looked like a small ion cannon. The arms looked somewhat normal until the wrists, where the objects took the place of the hands. On the head, the creature had purple eyes with no visible mouth or nose and a white horn coming out of its forehead.   
  
Anakin saw, once again, a planet fall to the Vong.   
  
"The Armornites are the second best warriors in their galaxy. Those left were not warriors. Except for the Tyrigeans."   
  
The holo switched to a watery planet with large islands all over it. The holo zoomed downward and revealed what looked like two humans but with fur, tails and a mane for the male and hip-length hair for the female. "Tyrigeans are so skilled that they are able to sneak up on Jedi."   
  
_I have no trouble believing that,_ thought Anakin. Yesterday, Caiya, a blond haired Tyrigean with wings, had walked up behind him, nearly scaring Anakin to death. He almost thought a Vong had been nearby.   
  
"They are the finest warriors (with the exception of Jedi) in both galaxies. They refuse to kill innocents, refuse to fight without a clear purpose because those are not honorable. The code of Tygarea (called Terr) has a very strict honor system; any violation of the code and the punishment will be very dire. Tyrigeans can get very angry; easily pushed into a rage, but they are also very loyal. Once a Tyrigean has sworn loyalty to you and/or anything else, nothing can deter them." The holo turned off and Anakin was surrounded by darkness again. "Before I continue, I should explain something. Anakin, you know that alternate Force you found?" asked Ladora's voice.   
  
"Yeah. What about it?"   
  
"What you are using is the negative Force. It is the same thing that you have been using all your life, but feels like its not there. In reality, it is there and can be used. You just need to be confident in your use of the Force. The parallel galaxy is filled with this negative Force," said another voice, this one belonging to Rene, the light brown hair and blue-eyed girl he met after leaving the med center. She looked around twenty when he first saw her, but was actually forty-four after she, her brother and some family and friends were frozen for twenty-four years.   
  
Lenny continued, "Caiya can make a bubble and projects it so that while we can use the positive Force, there is a ring of negative Force that can hide us from the rest of the galaxy. This is why Naboo has remained undiscovered for so long. Unless they are trained to, no one can feel the negative part."   
  
The holo came back on. There was a planet below Anakin. A ship, shaped like a flat tree with three levels and a shield covering it, floated in space, near the planet's moon. A Vong ship was close by. A battle was raging. It did not seem either side was winning. Suddenly, a Vong ship ambushed the other ship from behind the moon. Anakin felt something in his throat. It seemed that the Vong was going to win again when the Vong ships were flung out of the system.   
  
"The Tyrigeans' first battle occurred over this planet. At first, the battle was a draw; neither side had an advantage over the other. But then Tygarea's prince went up to the Panthern (equal to an admiral) and said that a Vong world ship was behind the planet's moon. Tyrigeans females are dominant over males so when the prince told her that, she ignored him. That proved to be a mistake. The world ship ambushed the Tyrigeans and the battle turned to the Vong. The prince saw this and pushed the world ship out of the system."   
  
Anakin smiled, realizing what he had seen. "The prince was Force-strong."   
  
"Yes, a very unusual event," remarked Ladora's voice.   
  
Anakin was confused. Caiya was a Tyrigean and Force-strong, "Why's that?"   
  
"Remember what we told you about midi-chlorians?"   
  
"Yeah, they're life-forms that connect us to the Force,"   
  
"Well," said Ladora, sounding as if she was fighting irritation at the Jedi before her, "what would you say if I told you that neither Caiya nor the prince have midi-chlorians?"   
  
Anakin did not say anything. He was shocked, like he had been all his time on Naboo. He had been told that without midi-chlorians, life would not exist!   
  
This time it was Talon, Rene's younger, darker haired brother who was talking, "No one knows how it's possible. It's a mystery, but the prince had done something no one in his galaxy had done before: he used the Force, at least the negative part of it. The Queen took her son to the Jedi Council. They confirmed it; the prince, midi-chlorians or not, was Force-strong. Something else was found out: the prince said that he felt the Vong in the positive part. The head of the council went to the parallel galaxy to observe the prince in what was originally thought to be a Force-less galaxy."   
  
The holo went back to Tygarea. It zoomed down to the planet where another raging battle was happening. There were Tyrigeans, but there were also sponge-like creatures with stump-like feet and four suction cup fingers. They had white eyes bungling out of the rounded-rectangle head. The feet, hands, and forehead were green on the yellow body. Anakin watched one of them slowly took a Vong and absorbed it into its body. The body grew a bit, but then went back to normal. There was no sign of the Vong.   
  
Ladora, now calmed down, started again, "These creatures are called Mildeweans. They are a peaceful race. They don't know war or conflict, but they also don't have a fully developed brain. Almost no way of thinking, but they do process enough that the Tyrigeans were able to convince them to help. The Vong seemed to be incompatible to the Mildeweans' body structure. The sponge-like people absorbed the Vong into their bodies and the Vong's bodies decayed,"   
  
The holo changed again. An orange flower bush appeared and it appeared to be flowing with an orange liquid. Anakin watch as a Vong walked into the bush. There was no sound, but Anakin could tell the Vong was screaming and watched as it ran away from the bush. "That orange liquid is Tyrigeans drink the most; deprived from the Sambar flower. The Vong will be eaten away if enough touches them. The Vong found this out on Tygarea. The Vong were defeated and chased out of the parallel galaxy."   
  
"That doesn't sound like the Vong," Anakin called out.   
  
"For you, yes but they were faced with a race of warriors with a weapon and ally they couldn't beat. The Vong fear the Tyrigeans because they are loosely similar to the Vong only with a different kind of honor that the Vong don't comprehend," explained Ladora.   
  
"How?"   
  
"Tyrigeans do not kill innocents, take over worlds, hate Jedi, worship gods, or believe that death is a reward, but we will throw everything they have into a battle because we believe being defeated by an enemy is dishonorable," answered Caiya.   
  
"So why didn't your people finish them off?"   
  
A growl filled the room and Anakin felt the hairs on his neck rise up. "It is not honorable to take an enemy when he is running; however, had we known that the barbarians would attack this galaxy, we would have finished them off. We are most dishonored by this event," said Caiya.   
  
Anakin turned his attention to Lusa as her voice filled the room, "As you know, the Vong, in this galaxy, have a shadow in their minds. This shadow is the negative Force. In the parallel galaxy, it is reversed; the Vong are Force-strong. This is why we never could feel the Vong: they are covered in the negative Force." The holo turned off and the room was dark again.   
  
"Is there anything else you want to know?" asked Ken.   
  
Anakin thought for a moment, "Just one thing. All the citizens of the parallel galaxy are not Force-strong, right?"   
  
"That we know of," answered Ladora.   
  
"Well then, how did the prince become Force-strong?"   
  
"His father was a human Jedi. His Force ability was a surprise as was his changing ability." Anakin started to ask but Ladora answered before he could, "The prince is able change into virtually any species. His father was killed before he was born."   
  
"What happened to the prince?" he asked, noting the present tense.  
  
Ladora sounded as if she enjoyed what was happening. "Oh, he's down the hall; arguing with my parents over how this whole matter is a bad idea."   
  
Anakin gasped, "Tygeris? Tygeris' the prince? But he would be 1,000 years old!" He thought of Caiya. That would mean that she, Tygeris' daughter, was a princess!   
  
"Well, he's really 1,001, just in this galaxy," said Ken, chucking somewhere.   
  
"In the parallel galaxy, time is a lot slower. Ken is an example; one year on Tygarea was eighteen years here, but it varies. Tygeris considers himself to be 426."   
  
Light came into the room and Anakin saw his new friends, Lusa and Chewie grinning. "You ready for your training?" asked Ladora.   
  
Anakin nodded. "I'm ready."   
  
Rene's smile faded. "I hope you're up to it."

* * *

I keep thinking of writing Anakin's missing week into a fan fic. The only problem is that most of it has Ladora, Anakin and the others 'time-traveling.' It's pretty funny; they never really do go back in time, but into different fan fics! :p Ladora gets mad every time because she wants to see the Battle of Endor! :

Ok, I'm done. Keep your eyes out for the next chapter. I don't call this an AU for nothing! :D


	6. Chapter Five: A Simple Talk

MistiWhitesun: Still confusing? Can't win. :p

Yeah, I've really aged down a lot of characters. For Ken, it was because I didn't have a clear idea how old he was and when I did the math (hate math), it came out him older than I expected. So I aged him down. For other characters, they were a bit too active and some had to have a reason for not joining the fight!

This is a major AU. It changes a lot of how you look at the films (althrough, I don't change the face of the films, more like the behind the scenes).

You should have seen the dialogue I wrote for my very first fan fic. It was awful! I'm better now (and I might finish that fic now!).

Tim Knispel: Well, Anakin has found out stuff. ;) If he leaves Naboo, he'll leave that too. That makes it harder. ;)

That's good to know.

It's ok. Not much happens in Four. Just a lot of explaining!

Here's the next chapter. One of my favorites, too.

* * *

Chapter Five

"A Simple Talk"

Never in his entire life had he been this tired. Anakin staggered his way out of his turbolift and into his room. He had been training non-stop for over a week. Tygeris and Ladora and Lenny's father were instructing him in the old Jedi ways. Their training was not that bad; it was Caiya and Ladora's that were causing him to be so tired. When they took over, they trained him late into the night. He had had only twenty-four hours of sleep in the past week.

He had never gone through strenuous training like Caiya's or Ladora's before. His every muscle ached from learning numerous fighting styles, the techniques of numerous weapons (even though his weapon was a lightsaber), and turning it all into a unique fighting style different from his previous style and his new friends.

The worst part was he had to learn all of this as soon as possible. Ladora wanted them out fighting the Vong in the next week. Why she wanted that was a mystery to everyone, but it was making it very hard for Anakin.

He collapsed onto his bed, exhausted. His bed felt so soft, so comfortable. He thought about getting something to eat but it was too late. Sleep came to overtake him.

_Wind blew sand in his face. Two suns bore down on Anakin Solo. He looked around through his goggles and saw that he was in a podracer! Just like his grandfather. In fact, this looked exactly like the one in the museum flown by his grandfather. It also looked like he was on Tatooine. _

_Anakin grinned. He pushed the acceleration, wanting to go as fast as he could. He saw a brown dot up ahead. As he grew closer, he saw that it was an arena. _That must be the arena where they held the Boonta Eve race,_ thought Anakin. He aimed the racer toward it but then he had to swerve; the Force was telling him to._

_Spat!_

_Right where Anakin had just been, a hot glob of plasma landed. Anakin looked behind him and saw...._ Coralskippers? Why are they here?_ He turned his attention back to the front. They played the game for a while and it was working, nothing was hitting him._

_Zap!_

_A small explosion occurred on his racer. Anakin looked on the right side; a small hole was there, looking as if a blaster had hit it. No, not a blaster but a.... Anakin looked behind him again and found skippers were not the sole ships attacking him. Peace Brigade ships fired their lasers at the young Jedi. Plasma was raining down; Anakin avoided it all, using everything he knew to fly the pod. Suddenly, his Force sense went flying and, on instinct, he speed up the pod._

_Crash!_

_A skipper crashed landed right where Anakin would have been. Now, in addition to the Brigade lasers and skipper plasma, Vong ships were engaged in suicide attacks. But he was almost there, almost to the arena! Two more ships crashed....more plasma was sent....ship lasers kept coming. Anakin entered the arena. He crossed the finish line and a cheer rose from within the stadium walls. _

_The young Jedi stopped the pod. Nothing hit him. He looked around; no trace of the Brigade or skippers were seen. He had won. Anakin had beaten the Vong. He jumped out of the pod and, while he saw no crowd, the cheers strengthened._

_Anakin felt his face go red at the cheering. He had just done what he had to do, that was all. Then, he saw something that made him truly happy, "Mom, Dad, Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara, Jaina, Jacen! Tahiri!" yelled Anakin and he started running toward them, "Hey, everyone! We won. We won!" He laughed. He cried. He was so happy. Everything was perfect. But then he slowed down and frowned. Something was wrong. They were backing away, "What's wrong?" he asked. "Why are you backing away? It's me, Anakin." But it looked like they were not listening. _What's wrong with them?__

_Snap-hiss._

_Anakin felt stunned, confused. Every Jedi member of his family had pulled out and ignited their lightsabers. His dad had pulled out his blaster and even Tahiri ignited her saber. _

_"Why?" he cried out. "Why are you against me?" Suddenly, he felt a blast of fear coming from them. Fear of him. Why had he not felt that before? "Why are you afraid of me?" he said, stepping forward. They continued to back away, sabers and blasters aimed at him. He passed a puddle of water. _Wait, water? On Tatooine?_ He looked into the pool of the rarest liquid found on a desert world. No, it could not be. But that had to be why his family feared him._

_He had no face!_

_No face._

_No mouth, eyes or nose. No eyebrows, ears not even hair._

_Nothing._

_"No," Anakin looked back to his retreating family, "Wait, I am Anakin Solo, your son, nephew, brother! Tahiri, I'm your boyfriend!" But they backed away, as if they had not heard him, "NO!"_

_"Anakin, wake up!" The arena started to shake, falling apart. His family disappeared into a cloud of smoke._

_"NOOOO!"_

"ANAKIN! WAKE UP!

He opened his eyes, free from his nightmare, and stared into the beautiful face of a woman in her mid-forties. Her brown eyes were concerned. It was Ladora and Lenny's mother.

"Are you alright? They said you were taking a break and I came to see how you were doing. You were screaming." She sat down beside him, her arm on his shoulder. "You had a nightmare."

Anakin did not answer; he was busy making sure that his face was intact.

She looked worried and, when Anakin finished his examination, she asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Anakin slowly nodded and his dream began to come out. Not long afterwards, "And I looked in the water, saw that I had no face and I knew that was why they were afraid of me." He looked in her large brown orbs, wondering if her untrained, limited Force-sensitivity could feel how afraid he was of this dream. "My family was afraid of me. They feared me."

"It's all right." She pulled him into a hug. "The dream is over. That will never happen." It seemed that everything Anakin had been through; the war with the Vong, his arguments with Jacen, his last mission, finding out he could not go home, had settled on the shoulders of this woman. He no longer felt alone. He felt as if she knew his sorrow and how he felt being away from his loved ones.

She let go, finally, and smiled. "Why don't you tell me about your siblings? I haven't heard about them from you."

_Lightsabers igniting, fear. Fear of him, coming from his family. _ "I don't know." He hung his head.

The woman took her hand, raised his face to see hers and said in a warm, comforting voice that dispelled his fears, "Please. Tell me."

Anakin nodded and started to talk about his twin siblings. The woman smiled, got up and went to the food synthesizer installed in his room and made him a sandwich and some blue milk. As he ate, he spoke of the adventures his siblings had over the years. "I guess a Solo with Skywalker blood in you means," said Anakin when he concluded his story, "trouble follows from the moment you're born."

The woman chucked. "I think just being a Skywalker would be enough to cause trouble to follow."

"Good point," he said, laughing as well.

"Do you have anything in common with them?" she inquired.

"I have more in common with Jaina than Jacen. We both like piloting and mechanics. But Jacen and I are very different. He likes telling jokes and finding animals to study. We-" he hesitated as he remembered his differences with Jacen, "-argued sometimes."

"What did you argue about?

Anakin finished his sandwich and drank the rest of his milk, "Mostly about the Force. Jacen always used the Force cautiously; as if he had been abusing it and wasn't sure what the right way was. I just use the Force whenever I need it. I mean it's there. That's why it's here, isn't it?"

"You see it as what?" She sounded alarmed.

But he never got to respond as his comm went off, "Anakin! What are you doing? I gave you forty-five minutes, NOT an hour! Get out here now!"

"Guess I have to go." He put up his food tray and started out of his room. "Bye!" He went down the lift, through the living area and out into the hallway.

Immediately, Ladora grabbed his arm and started to half drag him down the hall, her pulled up hair flying around so much it seemed as if it too was angry with him. "What the Sith were you doing?"

Anakin sighed. "Well, I fell asleep and had a dream. Then I started talking to..."

* * *

I really put Anakin through a lot. ]:) The evil creature that I am! HehHehHeh


	7. Chapter Six: The Shadow Test

Uh? Hello? Where is everyone? :( Did I bore you to death or something?

Anyway, this chapter is one of the reasons why the fic is PG-13. I've got a very violent character on my hands. I get chills sometimes when I read this, but I feel it is needed to show my 'seemingly perfect species' is not prefect at all.

* * *

Chapter Six  
The Shadow Test

_Why do I have to keep repeating this?_ thought Anakin as he aimed a kick toward Ladora's midsection. She blocked it but just barely. It was an indication, at least to Anakin, that he had learned a lot the past week. He threw his fist at Ladora's face but she prevented it from connecting. He kept going; hitting and kicking - and being blocked every time.

He knew the moves; every ancient Naboo, old Jedi, and a little Tyrigean, along with the stuff he had already known to combine them into a style unlike before. He aimed another kick only to meet air. He looked for Ladora and saw her back flipping to the back of the room. Anakin ran after her, unsure what she had planned, but not wanting mess up and start over again.

Snap-hiss!

Silver light filled that portion of the room as Ladora advanced with her saber. This had not happened before. What was going on? "Uh, Lado-" slash! The lightsaber came down at him and he jumped back. Well, if this was the game she wanted to play, he would play it.

He used the Force to bring a lightsaber from one of the weapon racks in the gym to his hand and blocked another blow. Attack – block – attack – block – attack – block - he matched every onset with a defense. He lost track of time as they clashed. He kept going, and then moved right as he sensed danger coming from behind him. The sound of other sabers clashing met Anakin's ears. He turned to see Ladora's silver blade crossed with the gold of Ken's lightsaber. Their lightswords disengaged and they started forward upon Anakin.

_Great, now I have to deal with two of them, _he thought as he settled in defense mode. As the confrontation continued, it became clear that, while Anakin could hold out, under their combined strength, the battle would not last much longer. He needed a plan.

As he started to think, a dim, much like a yashimgi, pulse in the Force appeared. Weeks ago, he would never had noticed it before, not even sensing it. But, now, after the days of training, he knew how to recognize it. Anakin jumped and flipped over Ladora and Ken's heads. When he landed, he turned. He saw Caiya join the others, brought his saber up to stance, and racked his brain for an idea.

He observed the sandbags they had used in place of Vong warriors on Ladora's right. He threw his saber in their direction. Ladora ducked, thinking it was aimed at her no doubt. The lightsaber cut the bags open. The sand poured out and Anakin brought his weapon back to him. The three smirked, thinking that they had won, but then Anakin used the Force to switch on the overhead fans.

The fans caused the sand to fly around, causing a small sandstorm and confusing Anakin's three opponents. He ran into it; looking for someone to challenge first. He found one and pushed Ken out. Failing to hide his shock, the Jedi Prince brought his saber up to start the attack. But Anakin began to hack away; forcing Ken in defense mode. Ken kept backing up until he tripped over a box that was behind him. Anakin grabbed Ken's lightsaber and went around the box to kick some more boxes on top of the Prince. He quickly turned and blocked Caiya's swinging blow.

They started, Anakin defending but moving Caiya back. She looked calm, but Anakin knew she had to be worried. They went over Tyrigean statutes and one was never let the enemy control your movements. He took out Ken's lightsaber and began his offensive; slashing away, using the sabers to hit the same place on the staff. It broke. He kicked her in the stomach and Force – pushed her back in the sandstorm.

He turned again to see Ladora coming at him like an angry gundark. Using both sabers, he blocked. They circled, neither wanting to move in defense. After turning twice, he faced the sandstorm. He broke away running and Ladora ran after him. He came to the wall, jumped and flipped over her. She ran into the wall and fell to the floor. Anakin pointed both sabers at her head and she smiled. "I guess your training's over."

He switched the sabers off. "Yeah, I guess so."

Ken walked up as Ladora got to her feet. Anakin gave him back his lightsaber. "Next time, let's survey the room and get rid of any boxes before we spar with Anakin again, because that hurt," he said.

"Sorry, Ken," apologized Anakin feeling a little bad that he had hurt his friends.

But Ken just waved it away. "Forget about it. I should've been watching anyway."

"That's for sure. I didn't except you to flip at the last moment," said Ladora as she turned off the fans.

Ken grinned. "And that's why you were watching him instead of the wa – whoa! Ow!"

Ladora walked toward the front of the gym, dusting her hands off, with a satisfied smirk on her face. "How's the wall, Ken?"

The voice that came was muffed from where Ken had been shoved into the wall, "Nice, but I think it needs cleaning."

Anakin sighed and followed Ladora. After all the time he had spent with them, he was used to Ladora's antics, but it bothered him. Caiya walked to the front and took the seat across from Ladora, who was working on her datapad. Anakin, seeing the Tyrigean's broken staff, took the seat between them and started to stammer, "Uh, Caiya, I – about that – uh, your staff –"

But the Tyrigean raised her hand. "Anakin Solo, you need not apologize. We were training and I am not harmed. As for my staff," she held up the two pieces, "I will regard it in honor. In my culture, Jedi are honored. Being defeated by you is a honor."

"But I thought your belief is that defeat is a dishonor."

Caiya nodded. "It is, however, the exception is Jedi. They are seen as an extension of Life. Therefore, it is an honor if you are defeated by them."

"Oh," said Anakin, but still felt a little guilty, "Okay."

He turned to see Ken take the seat next to Ladora. "My nose still hurts," said Ken.

Ladora did not look up from her datapad. "I can make it hurt more."

Ken responded in what Anakin hoped was a mock excitement tone, "Oh, will you? Hi, Rene!"

Everyone turned to see the young woman come up to them. "That was impressive," she said. "And all of it in a hour, too."

"A hour?" said Ladora and Ken together.

"A hour?" repeated Anakin, "That didn't feel like it."

Rene grinned, "Yeah, well, I timed it and got it on a holo. Nice crash, Ladora."

"I'm never going live that down," she said.

Rene shrugged, "You need to be mindful of your surroundings, but other than that, you should not have any problems with the Vong"

Something occurred to Anakin. Something he had not asked before now. "Hey, Ladora, I have a question." A nod. "Are we going to kill the Vong when we fight them?"

"No."

"Seriously?" he asked, relieved at that.

"Seriously. All those places on the sandbags that we've been practicing on are places that open up to the Vong's bloodstream. A paralysis drug that will be coated on our lightsabers will make its way through their veins, but it won't last long. I've got a carbon crystal substance that will paralyze/freeze them for good. Hopefully, other Vong will hear about their warriors not dying and become so angry that they'll come after us and leave other Jedi alone."

Anakin nodded. That was a lot better than killing them. He felt better.

"I say torture them and then death," began Caiya viciously. "My people had captured a barbarian when they invaded my home. For years, it was tortured because it and it's kind had violated many parts of the Code, but it always enjoyed our methods," she said looking confused at such a possibility, "Then we found a way that truly caused it pain. We dripped on drop of Sambar juice on it. Finally, it disliked pain. This went on for a long time, dropping Sambar on it, until it violated the last parts of the Code. To violate the entire Code is death."

Anakin sat there, horrified at her tale. Behind Caiya, Rene asked in a small voice, "What did the Tyrigeans do?"

"We started at the feet, cutting it into tiny pieces. Then we cut the arms in the same manner. I was ten at the time, the age to enter the warrior phase, and was given the pleasure of beheading the barbarian…with this very staff." She held up her broken weapon. "The rest of the body was cut in tiny pieces and scattered over the Pool of Life in the Great Tree."

"What happened to the head?" asked Ladora, sounding, for once, that she dreaded the answer.

"It is currently in my mother's Throne Room to remember our victory."

They sat in silence, aghast at Caiya's tale. Everyone turned to Ken who, after all, had been to Tygarea. "What? I never went in the Throne Room. I had no idea!" he said, disturbed. They turned back to Caiya, who was looking proud, unaware at how sickened she made her friends, and sat in silence again.

After awhile, a voice came from near the door. "All right, no more gruesome stories, Caiya," said Ladora's father.

The Tyrigean looked puzzled, "Gruesome? How is it gruesome?"

"We'll tell you the human standards of gruesome later, Caiya," said Ladora. Beside her, Ken nodded frantically.

Ladora's father got a chair and sat next to Anakin, "Anakin, could you tell me what you think of the Force?"

Anakin, realizing that he was asked a question, shook himself out of his horrific trance, "Uh, what? Oh, I just use the Force whenever I need it. Wh –" but he stopped as he felt everyone's eyes upon him. Everyone was staring at him like he had told Caiya's account.

"Come on." Someone grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door. He turned to see who it was: Ladora. He looked back and everyone still had the same shocked look, all except Ladora's father who wore a small sly smile on his face.

Anakin felt his insides grow cold. He had spent a lot of time making sure he never enticed Ladora's anger, but somehow he had done it anyway.

* * *

Boring stuff coming, however, it is very relevant to the end of the fic. Hope you like it.


	8. Chapter Seven: The Legend

MistiWhitesun: Sort of. They see Anakin using the Force as a tool, but not realizing it. Ladora is going to correct that idea of his.

Sorry for the late chapter. I went on vacation and my computer wasn't working right for the past couple of days. I can't use Word at all now; I'm using WordPad right now. Problems, problems, problems.

Anyway, here's what you've been waiting for. Hope you like it! :)

* * *

Chapter Seven

"The Legend of the Angel and Chaos"

Ladora had brought Anakin to a speeder, told him to get in and drove out of Theed. She had not spoken since then and that made Anakin even more nervous. She had not done anything drastic to anyone in front of him, but Rene and Talon had told him of exploits where she had broken every bone in Lenny's body. What had he done that made her angry? Was it what he had said? He had had arguments with Jacen over the Force and Aunt Mara had said that he was using the Force too much, but was it wrong to have such a viewpoint?

Now they were going through parts of Naboo's swamp. He looked back; Theed was a speck in the distance. "Ladora...uh...where are we going?" he asked.

She did not answer. Anakin looked back again; Theed disappeared. He settled back in his seat. _Wonder what she'll do to me?_ he thought. He looked forward and saw a tree up head. _Great, she's going to drop me out of a tree. Wait, that might not be so bad. I'll use the Force to slow my fall._ He started to wonder whether or not she would block his use of the Force when he saw the tree come into clearer focus. He blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not seeing things. He brought his hands down and found out he was not seeing things: the tree looked like a woman!

In the middle of a vast of amount of roots, the trunk spread out like a dress. As it went up, the trunk thinned, making up the body, until it came to the top and made what remarkablely looked like a face. Two branches were arched backed looking like arms and long willow-like leaves flowed in the back, giving the illusion of hair. Anakin had never seen anything like it before. He stared at it in wonder, forgetting to wonder why he was being taken here.

The speeder stopped at the bottom of the roots and Ladora got out, went around, dragged him out and, together, climbed the roots to the base. They sat down on some of the roots while Anakin still stared in wonder. He was brought out of it when Ladora started to speak, "I'm going to tell you an ancient Naboo legend...

"At the beginning of time, this land was peaceful, war was not known. Villages dotted the continents; people knew and traded with one another so weapons were not needed. But then a dark cloud came from the north. An army of evil descended upon the villages.

"The army was lead by a girl known as Chaos. Her army destroyed everything and everyone that crossed their path. A great suffering had begun. Chaos continued her reign of terror for many, many days. The people began to lose hope. As Chaos was set to rule their lives, another being came from the north, one with hope. A being of great light, a soldier, an Angel Warrior came to defeat Chaos. A great battle was fought between the Angel and Chaos. For days, it went on. Finally, the Angel won. Chaos' power was broken. The Angel used his power and sealed Chaos in a tree. But before she was sealed, she shouted out:

"An extension of myself, I shall cast,

'A thousand years after a prophesy has been dispatched,

'I shall be released from this tomb,

'And Chaos will lead a galaxy to its doom.

"After her words, the seal was completed. The Angel set up six impenetrable gates around the tree to prevent Chaos from ever escaping." concluded Ladora

Anakin realized something, "This is where Chaos is sealed, isn't it?"

"Smart boy," said Ladora, smirking. "Now do you realize that, if the Angel used the Force the way you do, Chaos would have succeeded."

"What? How is that?"

"Anakin, you use the Force as a tool. A tool is an instrument. An instrument has limits. A tool can only do so many things. The Force, however, is different. It has no limits except to the individual."

"Wait, wouldn't that mean we're tools as well since we have limits?"

Ladora smiled an insane-like smile, like she was toying with him. "It would if it weren't for one thing. What is it?"

Anakin thought about that, _Ok, what do we have that tools don't? Lets' see...there's arms, legs and voice? No, droids have those. Bones? No, too easy. Besides, there are some species_ _that don't have bones. Blood? No, same reasons as the bones._

He thought harder. He was sure he knew the answer; he just had of think of it. Then the pieces fell together._ Wait just...what am I out here for in the first place? Why didn't I think of that before?_ "The Force," he said firmly.

Ladora's grin grew. "Right, and what creates the Force?"

"Life creates it," said Anakin, automatically repeating Uncle Luke's lessons.

"So therefore the Force is...."

"Life because we have life and we are created by the Force."

Ladora nodded. "If the Force was a tool, we would be tools. Animals would be tools. Life itself would be a tool, but it's not."

"The Force creates life and life creates the Force. It's a symbiotic circle. Only life can have the Force," Anakin blinked and then realized what the point was, "and therefore it should be treated with care."

Ladora threw her head back, "He gets it. I don't have to send him into orbit." She looked back at Anakin, "Ready to go back?"

Anakin nodded and the two got up and started to slid off the tree using the roots. "Ladora," he asked as they were sliding, "is that prophecy Chaos shouted out really true?"

"You know of a prophecy a thousand years old?"

"No."

"Well, I don't know of one either so maybe it's not true, but that's not stopping some people."

Anakin was perplexed again. "What do you mean?"

Ladora froze and, next to her, Anakin did too. "Do you what the Naboo word for Chaos is?"

Anakin shook his head, wondering why she asked. He had not studied Naboo.

Ladora looked at the unseen capital city in the distance. "It's Ladora."

Anakin's eyes widened as he realized what that might mean. That it might mean the girl next to him might be the extension of an ancient evil. "But why would..."

"Dad didn't know. When I was born, I cried all the time and they couldn't get me to respond to any name. Dad used this one and I stopped. But Mom said I couldn't have this name, so they kept trying. But it was no use; I wouldn't respond to another. I chose my own name," she sighed. "People think it's a sign that I'm Chaos. Other than Palpatine and Vader, I'm the most hated person on the planet."

At first, Anakin did not speak, thinking how awful life would be like being hated just because of your name. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be; I'm used to people hating me." She turned and gave him a smile. "Ready to go back through the six gates of Chaos?"

"Huh?" She pointed down and he saw six gates surrounding the tree. Anakin guessed that they symbolized the impenetrable gates in the legend. He nodded and they left, got in the speeder and headed back to Theed.

* * *

Like I said, boring stuff, but the next chapter is a little more interesting. We're getting to the end of part one!


	9. Chapter Eight: Preparations

MistiWhitesun: The people believe that Padme was used. They place the full blame on Paplatine. Naboo trusts their former Queen. :)

And I said Vader, not Anakin. ;)

Thanks! :D As for the Angel Warrior, his name in Naboo has evolved. At first, it meant light. Later on (influence by the tales of Anakin's first words to Padme), it became Angel. Some people still use Light Warrior, but most prefer Angel Warrior. ;)

* * *

Chapter Eight  
"Preparations"  
  
Anakin hugged the palace wall in the dead of night as he crept toward Ladora's lab. He was not sure why he was doing this; something from the Force was telling him to do this and keep it secret. Across from him were windows, outside of which guards stood watch. Those guards who were on the pay of Nega Ion, governor of Theed and responsible for the law forbidding outsiders to come to Naboo. If they saw him, Ion would be told, Ladora would be in trouble, and the mission would be either over or prolonged; neither was an option.

Anakin mentally sighed at the thought of the governor. Naboo was in a state of denial; ever since the Vong conflict started, no news had come in about the state of the galaxy…under Ion's orders. The people knew the Vong were out there, but were comforted by the governor's claims that Luke and Leia were having no problems with the enemy. Ladora and their family could not talk about the war due to the law. Naboo did not know that Chewie and Anakin were 'dead' or about the slaughter of Jedi or of the fall of Corasaunt. The only person who did, other than Ladora, Lenny, their family and friends, was Ion.  
  
He stopped thinking about what Naboo knew and Ion as he came to Ladora's lab. He slowly walked across the hallway. As he took out his cardkey to open the door, he silently thanked the Force that Ladora, who was very protective of her lab, had not locked him out. He went in the lab, closed and locked the door. While it would not keep people out, it might destract them for a while. He searched the storage compartments on the left wall, looking around for what he needed. In the last section, he found it. Anakin took out the E-web blaster, put it on the floor and started putting it together. When he finished, he looked it over. This E-web was heavily modified. The barrel and power box reached up to his chest. There was no hose, instead the barrel and poweer box connected together and it was supposed to be twenty times more powerful than before.  
  
Anakin had found out about the E-web on the way back from the Chaos tree. Ladora had talked about her projects and, when she had gotten to the E-web, Anakin had gotten his feeling. He had gone straight to bed after they had gotten back, but he had not sleep well, not enough to make up for the lost sleep. Sometimes the feeling would wake him and others it would be his dream. He had finally given up on sleeping and started to follow the feeling. It had led him here. He knew what he had to do now, coming to him by standing next to the repeating rifle.  
  
He put the power on the lowest setting, moved the table so it would not get blasted and went and stood in front of the door. He raised his right hand and held the trigger remote in his left. He took a deep breath, let half of it out and pressed the trigger button.  
  
Five long seconds past, then a red bolt came out, hit Anakin's right hand and was absorbed. But the shock threw him backwards against the door. "Whoa, she wasn't kidding when she said it was more powerful than a regular E-web," he said softly. He looked at his hand. It was throbbing. There were carbon scorch marks, but it worked. He absorbed the bolt just like he absorbed blaster bolts. He grinned, got up and did it again and again and again. He kept doing it until he no longer was thrown back. He went through the process two more times, each on a higher setting than the previous one.  
  
Finally, he put the machine up and crept back to bed. He was leaving Naboo to start on the first mission soon and he would need some sleep. And he would be sleeping knowing he was following the will of the Force.

------------

Beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep.  
  
Without opening his eyes, Anakin turned over and covered his head with his pillow. His chrono could not be going off now. He had been sleeping so well; no dreams had invaded his slumber. His hand reached out and knocked the chrono off his desk. The beeping stopped. Relieved, Anakin put his head back on top of the pillow to let sleep overtake him again.  
  
Then it hit him.  
  
Anakin's eyes snapped open. He rolled over to look at his fallen chrono. The blankets got tangled with his body and, as a result, he fell out of his bed. He got up on his knees, a blanket covering his head. Picking up the timepiece that he had missed landing on, he pulled the quilt off and looked at the chrono. Wow, he had been asleep for a standard 27 hours, but that meant it was time to get ready to leave.  
  
He got up, disentangled himself from his covers, made his bed and went to the refreasher for a shower. His hand received a good scrubbing due to the scorch marks. It did not hurt much as Anakin had enveloped it into a healing bubble before going to sleep. After he finished, he put on some clean clothes. He went to his chest, took out a small carrying case and placed it on the bed. He gathered some extra clothes since it was going to be a long trip. He went to his desk to collect his new half-completed lightsaber as his old one had not been retrieved, when he saw something that would need to be packed before it.  
  
His Shadow Jedi uniform was folded neatly on the desk with the boots, gloves and gauntlets on top. He took the clothes and equipment and laid it out on the bed. Anakin remembered the arguments over the costume during his first week on Naboo. Everyone who would fight the Vong had to pick a color to be identified with and, since the others had picked colors similar to their lightsabers, Anakin chose purple. Unfortunately, Ladora stomped out that selection saying that the color would remind his family of him and the Shadow Jedi could not be linked to Anakin Solo. Disappointed, Anakin decided on dark blue.  
  
He folded the dark blue skin-tight body suit and packed it. Next, he took the same colored armor, still amazed at how flexible Ladora was able to make Corusa gems and cortosis ore, and placed it in the case.  
  
A smile crossed his face at the next part of his apparel. He held up an identical copy of the padawan outfit his grandfather had worn in the days before the Clone Wars. He chose the outfit because it would remind him of three things: his Jedi heritage, how far his family had come, and how much had been sacrificed for that. _Only to be destroyed by the Vong_, he thought as he put the clothes in the case.  
  
His hands trembled as he picked up his mask. He had only made the decisin recently and was still questioning on if it was the right one. In his hands he held a face-less mask. It seemed logical; if his family feared a Shadow Jedi, then they would not think of Anakin Solo. Still, that did not mean he liked it, and he buried the mask deep in his case. Finally, he packed the gauntlets, gloves and boots.  
  
He placed his lightsaber in a case compartment. Then he walked over to his bedside desk to collect the four holos there. One was a holo of his parents and siblings, another of Uncle Luke, Aunt Mara and Ben, the third was of his grandparents and the last one was of Tahiri. He held them, thinking. Then he turned them off and put them in his pocket instead of packing them. He looked down at a machine next to the desk. It was a programmable laser puzzle. After he finished his lightsaber, he was going to create a new hologram of his family, his entire family. His parents, siblings, uncle, aunt, cousin and grandparents. He got out a second, smaller case from under the bed and put the generator into it.  
  
Anakin made a final check of his room to make sure he had not missed anything. Then he got his cases and left his room. Outside the apartment, he got a pleasant surprise. Ladora and Lenny's parents were waiting and, when he appeared, their mother stepped forward. "We decided to see you off. It was, sort of, on our way to the gym."  
  
The gym was on the first floor and Anakin would not be passing it to get to the hanger, but he did not mind. He wanted some company. The twins' father got the two cases and they walked Anakin to his destination. Too soon, they reached the parting point.  
  
Ladora's father put the cases down. "When you come back, if you have the time, we could take a run on the sims. I want to see how well you can fly," he said, smiling and ruffed Anakin's hair.  
  
"I'll use that to get you back for sending Ladora after me the other day. I thought she was going to throw me out of a tree," replied Anakin, grinning.  
  
He tsked, "That's the best revenge you can come up with?"  
  
"I'm not the 'getting back type.' That's more Jaina than me."  
  
He looked towards his wife. "Training in the way of pranks, he needs."  
  
She shook her head. "The perfect master for that, you would be." She embraced Anakin with a hug and Anakin returned it, his face pressed against her soft brown hair. When they parted, she looked into Anakin's eyes.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked. She looked as if she was going to cry.  
  
"Nothing. It's just-" she hesitated. "It's nothing." Silence. "Will you keep them safe for me?" she asked finally.  
  
Anakin did not give a second thought at the request. He knew what she was talking about. "Of course, I will. You don't have to worry and thank you for everything both of you have done."  
  
"You don't have to thank us. We're just doing what we were meant to do," the twins' father responded. "Now we need to get to the gym. Make sure nothing flies around when a certain someone get angry." He winked at Anakin.  
  
Lenny's mother crossed her arms, not noticing the wink. "I have control of my anger, thank you."  
  
The couple walked away, still arguing. "Uh-huh, that's why that chest broke into splinters after you threw it against the wall the last time you got angry with Tygeris."  
  
Anakin smiled. He was very much reminded of his own parents. He turned to the statue of the final Queen of Naboo, Jamilla. He reached up and spinned the fanned headdress. Jamilla slid forward and Anakin grabbed his baggage and went down the stairs of the secret passageway to the hanger. It was too risky to go the regular way to the hanger, much too public. The passageway ended and Anakin pushed the wall out. He walked into a hallway overlooking the hanger. He looked down to see only one ship occupying the space. His eyes widened and a smile grew on his face. He ran the rest of the way and sat the cases down to take a better look at the ship.  
  
It looked to be about forty meters long, but with a thinness that reminded Anakin of the Falcon. The surface was smooth and silver. And with its shape, it was more of a work of art than a ship. He walked over to the boarding ramp where Ken was standing. "This ship is amazing," he said.  
  
Ken grinned. "Everyone thought you would like the _Probe_."  
  
"The _Probe_? Is that what it's called?"  
  
"This is the _Silver Probe_. Called that because Ladora says she probes the galaxy for information. Looks like a yacht, but she can take on anything. Fastest ship ever with a 130 MGLT sublight engine and a Class .3 hyperdrive and armed to the teeth," said Ken, sounding like an hoload.  
  
Anakin whistled. He knew at least three people who would love to get their hands on this ship. "How many can she hold? Who built it?"  
  
"Six crew and ten passengers. Ladora and her father took four years to build, but they still like to tinker with it every now and then. He did most of the work. The shape was Ladora's idea."  
  
"She has an obsession with the New Republic, doesn't she?"  
  
That remark got Ken laughing. "You should've seen Ion's face when she first flew it. And it's more of a Rebel obsession than Republic. I think Ion tried to find a law that said you can't give a ship the shape of the Rebel insignia, but it doesn't exist."  
  
Two thumps landed next to Anakin. "Anakin, I think you forgot something."  
  
Anakin looked behind him. Talon and Lusa had brought the cases he left behind when he had started to inspect the ship. "Oh, thanks, guys."  
  
"You're welcome," said Lusa.  
  
"No problem," said Talon and then he turned toward Ken. "We can watch the hanger while you show Anakin his quarters."  
  
Ken nodded his agreement and montioned Anakin to follow him. Anakin nodded, grabbed his cases and started up the ramp. Talon and Lusa started to whisper as soon as Ken and Anakin were out of sight.  
  
"You know, those two have been doing that ever since we rescued her," commented Ken. "The quarters are in what we call the wings. Yours is in the left one." They walked toward Anakin's quarters, the last one in the row. "Chewie is next door. He's very protective of you."  
  
Anakin thought of Sernpidal. "Yeah, he is."  
  
He started to unpack as Ken stood outside, waiting for him to get done. He put the laser puzzle in a compartment under his bed. When he finished, he looked back toward Ken and found a purple and silver R2 unit and a round, silver repulsor droid behind him.  
  
"Ken," said the repulsor droid, "Ladora wanted you to know that they are in the cockpit and she needs you to help with the pre-flight."  
  
The Jedi Prince introduced Anakin to the two droids, SERD1-01 ( or Silver) and R2-D4 (or Defour). Then the two followed the droids to the centural hold. Defour stopped and hooked herself up to a console near the boarding ramp. The rest went in the cockpit where the others waited for them.. Ken sat next to Ladora in the co-pilot seat and in front of Caiya while Silver hooked herself up to a cylinder on the ceiling in-between Ladora and Ken. A seat behind Ladora was empty, but the one behind it was taken by a sour looking Rene.  
  
"Are you all right, Rene?" asked Anakin.  
  
"Hmrph," was all she said.  
  
"She caught Talon and Lusa together," explained Ladora.  
  
"Rene, this is not the Old Order. Love is perfectly acceptable now," said Ken, but Rene gave him such an accusing stare that he turned around and worked with Ladora on pre-flight check-up.  
  
Anakin sat down in the seat behind Caiya, not saying anything. He knew Rene liked doing things the way the Old Order did, but had the no emotional attachments going too far? Ken was right; things were different now.  
  
Lenny came running in and sat in the empty seat behind his sister. "I told Governor Dayton our cover story. We'll clear to go," he informed them.  
  
Ladora mumbled something postive, but did not look up from working on pre-flight.  
  
Lenny looked behind him at Rene and her sour face. "What's going on?"  
  
At first, no one answered. Then Anakin told him. He thought he saw Lenny sneak a glance at Caiya, but it must have been his imagination because Lenny turned around and started on the navigation.  
  
Moments later, the ship took off. They cleared Naboo Control and started preperations to make the jump to hyperspace. Anakin felt excitement. He was back in space, back where he belonged. 

* * *

Finally. Now the good stuff starts. :)


	10. Chapter Nine: Talks and Fights

Huh.............?

Where is everyone? :(

/whines/

No one likes me!!!!!!! :

.......................

Ok, I'm kidding! I guess everyone is busy. So ignore the above whining. I can get like that a lot! :p

* * *

Chapter Nine

Talks and Fights

It was no use. Lenny could not sleep. This plan of his twin really unnerved him. He never liked fighting and it was against his pacifist beliefs to kill someone. His dad had told him that would not happen, but he was sure there could be another way to deal with the Vong. _We could work out an arrangement if we all sat down and talked. No need for blood shed_, thought Lenny. The problem was he could not convince Ladora of that. He could not convince of her of anything.

He sighed. Whenever he worried about something, he would always get up and practice his healing powers. He got out of bed and started toward the sick bay. There was a miniature bacta tank in the sick bay. They had start building it in the past month. It was almost done. It would not treat severe injuries, but it would keep a person in stable condition until they could get to a suitable med center.

"Hello?"

Lenny turned around the corner. This was supposed to be the longest part of their journey. He thought everyone was asleep. "Anakin? What are you doing up?"

Anakin stood in front of one of the entrances to the gun turrents. "I'm finishing my lightsaber. What are you doing up?"

"I can't sleep."

Anakin seemed to be looking through the younger boy. He then looked back at the gallery. "Hey, let's get something to drink and sit down to talk." He looked back at Lenny. "Maybe you could get to sleep after that."

Soon they were sitting on the acceleration couch, talking about Lenny's troubles. The topic quickly turned to Ladora. "I can't convince her of anything. She just hits me or something. I don't know what to do."

"Have you tried talking to her in front of someone, like your parents?"

"Yes, and they have punished her whenever she hurts me, but it doesn't stop her. Mom says Ladora almost makes her glad she didn't have to raise four kids."

"Do you have anything in common with her?"

"No." Lenny looked down at his drink. "She helps me with my healing abilities, mainly inventing things I can use, but that's it."

Anakin leaned back, a skeptical look on his face, "That's it? Surely there's more than that."

"No." Lenny looked down at his drink. "She helps me with my healing abilities, mainly inventing things I can use, but that's it."  
  
Anakin leaned back, a skeptical look on his face, "That's it? Surely there's more than that."  
  
"No." Lenny raised his cup, but brought it back down as he remembered something. "Wait, there's one thing. It's a Force power we can do together, but it happened long ago and we were forbidden from doing it again."  
  
"Well, what is it?"  
  
"We call it Invoking. We were playing with the Force and did something (I can't remember exactly what). We saw a light and then it disappeared. Our parents and Tygeris ran in our room not long after that. After we told them what we knew happened, Dad and Tygeris forbid us from doing that exact process again. Only time Ladora listened to Tygeris."  
  
"You don't know anything about this power." Lenny shook his head and watched as Anakin closed his eyes. _He must be trying to figure out how Invoking works_. Anakin's eyelids tightened. His forehead wrinkled. "Ahh! I can't do it," said Anakin, opening his eyes. "How did you guys achieve it?"  
  
"I told you. We don't remember and no one will tell us, that is if they know." Lenny finished his drink and stood up, feeling somewhat better. "Thanks for the talk."  
  
"No problem. Any time"  
  
Lenny started back to his quarters. He passed the sick bay and stopped, trying to decide whether he should work on the bacta tank or not. Deciding to work on it later, he turned around…and bumped right into Ladora. "Sorry, sorry," he said hastily.  
  
Ladora had her armor draped over her shoulder and her hands were on her hips, but he could not tell if she was mad or not. It was hard to tell. That was how he always got hurt, not knowing how mad she was and pushing it. "What are you doing?" she said, her eyes narrowed.  
  
"Talking with Anakin," he said quickly. He wondered why she was up, too, but was not going to ask. He was afraid it might anger her.  
  
"I was recharging my armor's computer system," she said to his unspoken question. She turned and went to her quarters. When she got there, she turned and gave him a stony look. "Go get some sleep. I was under the impression a prince of Theed needed sleep." She disappeared into her room.  
  
Lenny sighed. "Don't worry. It'll get better," said Anakin as Lenny felt the older boy's hand on his shoulder.  
  
"I can best Ion in debate, talk freely to my mom and dad. I bet I could even have great conversation with my older brother and sister, if we knew each other, but I can't talk normally to my own twin."  
  
"For now. It will get better."  
  
_I doubt it_, thought Lenny.  
  
_I don't. _  
  
Lenny looked over at Anakin and smiled. "Thanks."  
  
Anakin smiled back. "No problem."

-------------

"Prince?!" Ken shouted out. "What kind of codename is that?"  
  
"The kind that is broad, but easy for the team to remember!" Ladora shouted back.  
  
Lenny and the others (minus Anakin) were in the _Probe_'s small hanger in an attempt to avoid the heated argument in the main hold. The shouting grew louder as Anakin came in with his hands over his ears. The door shut behind him and muffed the yelling. "And Uncle Luke said Mom and Dad argued," said Anakin. "Who wins?"  
  
"Ladora," everyone said in unison.  
  
Anakin nodded and everyone went back to standing around, waiting for the argument to end.  
  
Caiya wrapped her wings around her body and under her arms so she could wear her uniform. She had not been happy with the idea of wearing something other than her hunting tunic as she commanded to do by the Terr Code. She had to get special permission from the Pride Counsel to wear the uniform.  
  
"Thank you, Lennke," said Caiya as Lenny handed her the armor. He felt a pang of regret at hearing his real name from Caiya. Tyrigeans considered nicknames as a sign of people who were very close. He very much wished she called him by his nickname.  
  
"People think of Palpatine whenever they hear Ken, Jedi Prince! I don't want that!" shouted Ken.  
  
"The reason you're a prince is because your mother was a princess!"  
  
"It doesn't matter, it's on both sides! I'm still thought of as Palpatine's grandson!"  
  
"Then deal with it!" shouted Ladora, her tone final.  
  
Finally, it got quiet. "I'll see if it's ok," said Talon. He went to the hanger door and opened it just enough so he could see. "It's all right," he told them. "They're just staring at each other."  
  
Everyone let out a great sigh of relief and started back to the main hold. Ken was sitting on the couch, glaring at Ladora, who was standing next to the console. Lenny looked between the two, amazed that they could get so angry, but be so friendly with each other later.  
  
"Is anyone else going to object to their codenames?" demanded Ladora, her tone clearly saying she wanted no arguments.  
  
"It would be helpful if we knew what our codenames were. You and Ken started your argument before the rest of us could receive them," stated Caiya.  
  
Ladora stared at her best friend, but Lenny did not feel any anger from her. Instead, she seemed to relax. She hardly got angry at Caiya. Probably because their personalities were a little alike. "Ok. Your codename is Warrior," she said in a more controlled voice. "Lenny, yours is Healer One, Lusa; Healer Two, Chewie; Mechanic, Rene will pilot the ship, Talon will man the console and monitor the battles, I'm Chaos, and Anakin is Little One."  
  
Lenny quickly looked over at Anakin. He looked like he was going to object. _Please don't_, thought Lenny. Anakin abruptly turned to Lenny and did not say anything.  
  
"Good," said a satisfied Ladora. "We're at the Parallel point above Abregado-rae." Anakin gave her a quizzical look. Lenny leaned over and quietly told him that they were over the planet in the Parallel Galaxy. "My sources tell me this planet is the Vong's next target. Finish getting ready. We're leaving in six minutes."  
  
After that, she left. Lenny sighed. "I wonder what it's like to have a normal family," he mused out loud.  
  
Anakin laughed. Lenny looked over at him to see why he was laughing. "Lenny," said Anakin, "in my experience, there's no such thing as a normal family."  
  
Lenny grinned and started to laugh, too, ignoring the slight giggles of everyone else.

* * *

It's two chapters away from the end of part one! :) This may get caught up to the JC version. /starts to worry/ Man! It's going to be bad then. :( 


	11. Chapter Ten: The Meeting

MistiWhitesun: it's all right. I tend to do this when I don't get readers. :p

Their siblings haven't been talked about because this was the first chance I've got to talk about them. Their siblings are not with them at the moment, but you'll find out who they are in two chapters (I hope. I think it flew over my other readers, they really didn't say whether or not they understood).

There's more to Anakin's comment than meets the eye. ;)

PrincessKinky: Thanks! :D Here's your wish! :)

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Chapter Ten 

The Meeting

"Impatient?"

"Quite."

"The girl has no patience."

"Quote Yoda again and I'll patience you. Hard to believe you used to be some sheltered, know-it-all kid once."

Ken grinned under his helmet, but did not respond. Ladora was right, through. He had changed. Still considered a know-it-all by some, but no longer sheltered and with more experience than he had had when he left with Tygeris twenty years ago. He had changed physically as well. His brown hair turned blond when he lived on Tygarea. He doubted Luke and the others would recognize him.

But he was right, too. Ladora had no patience. It was obvious in the way she kept looking for the Vong atop the rock formation where they had arranged their ambush when they were supposed to be searching with the negative Force. She also kept fingering the built-in button and green designs on her silver, eight inch lightsaber as if expect the Vong to fly up to them at any moment, but she was not the only one being impatient.

On the rock formation opposite of Ladora and Ken's, Anakin was, too. Although he was asking Ladora questions on top of questions, which was not helping matters. "But even if we rid Abregado-rae of the Vong, they are going to send more. How do we keep the planet safe?"

"That's been taken care of. A Tyrigean team has been planting machines at the north poles of planets. The machines will insert Sambar juice in the atmosphere when activated, making the planet inhabitable to the Vong," explained Ladora, sounding more annoyed than ever.

"Wait. If the Tyrigeans are already involved, then why don't they send a fleet?"

"It has been 425 years since our last war," said Caiya. "It will be quite some time before a war fleet can be assembled."

"Oh. Fine, then. What are we doing after this?"

"Pick a Vong-occupied planet and target it. It'll throw them in a panic if we do it long enough," said Ladora.

Suddenly, Ken picked up a strong negative Force shadow heading toward them. He got up and peered over. They had passed over other groups of Vong because they were, in Ladora's words, "too small." This, however, seem to be a decent size bunch. "Hey, guys, something's coming."

Ladora joined Ken. He sensed her satisfaction upon seeing them. "Caiya, how many?" she asked.

Ken felt Caiya; more attuned than the rest of them were at the negative Force, reach out. "There are twenty of them."

"Sounds fair. Think so, La-umm I mean, Chaos?" said Ken.

"Yeah, really good odds," said Ladora, definitely excitement in her voice now. "Here they come. May the Force be with us."

"May our victory give strength to the Life-Being," said Caiya, quoting an old Tyrigean saying Ken had heard often while on Tygarea.

The Vong were nearing the rocks as Ladora and Ken got ready to pounce. When the first Vong entered the formation, the Shadow Jedi jumped and ignited their lightsabers on the way down. They landed directly in front of the Vong and attacked.

* * *

"Warrior, don't take on more Vong than the rest of us! They might suspect something," said Ladora as she sprayed crystals on a paralyzed Vong.

"It was not many," objected Caiya, calmly.

"Not many?" exclaimed Ken. "You took on eleven Vong while the rest of us had three each! That will attract some attention if it every got out."

"Exactly. Promise me you won't fight more Vong than the rest of us, Warrior, and I'll let you go all out near the end," said Ladora.

Caiya sighed. "As you wish."

Ladora went to find another Vong to crystallize, grateful that Caiya gave in. She did not mind her friend taking on so many (she would have liked to have done that herself), but realistically it would not look good. The last thing she needed were rumors of a 'Super Jedi' was attacking the Vong or them thinking a Tyrigean was among the Shadow Jedi.

Ladora looked down at the Vong she found. His eyes flashed hatred as she started to spray the crystals on him. _Too bad you can't see my face,_ she thought. _No chance to see my smile at your loss and dishonor…and your kind's eventual demise._ Ladora covered the Vong's face in crystals.

She turned her back on him; he was no longer a concern to her. All the other Vong were crystallized. Everyone gathered around Ladora while she placed her gauntlets back on paralysis darts and called Rene on her helmet comm. "Are you at the Vong's stronghold?"

"Yes," replied Rene, nervously.

"Do you sense anyone there?"

"No."

"Then blow it up."

There was a pause, and then Rene's voice came back filled with concern, "I don't see how this will help. We don't have to…"

"Yes, we do. I want the Vong to think we did it and not let the Sambar destroy it later. Now do it!"

"Wait!"

Ladora turned to Anakin, infuriated that people were questioning the plan. "We can't back down. If we do, the effect on the Vong won't be as strong as we need it to be."

"That's fine. I understand that," he said, impatiently as if that was not his complaint in the first place, but more concerned with something else, "but look!" He pointed in the direction the previous Vong had gone in.

"So?"

"So? Don't you feel them?"

_What is he talking about? _She reached out and felt for the shadow of the Vong. She found it all right, but she also felt a strong positive Force presence there as well. "Stars, what are they doing here?"

"Maybe the reason we're here?" suggested Ken.

"It feels like they need help. We cannot possibly leave them like that. We must fight those Vong now," stated Caiya.

_She's right. We can't fight them later like I had wanted. Oh, well. _"All right, let's go." Anakin eagerly pushed his way forward. Ladora sighed and pulled him back. "But we have to maintain our cover of surprise."

Anakin turned to her, putting his hands on his hips and started tapping his foot. "Well?" he asked. His voice sounded like he was nearly a breaking point.

Behind her helmet, Ladora smiled. She opened one of her belt pouches. She had hoped to use the four small white disks on some mission. Now she had her chance. She threw the disks on the ground and stepped on the one nearest to her. The disk spread out, becoming longer, but more oval shape. When it was done, she got on it and turned her foot sideways, activating it. The 'disk' rose in the air, taking Ladora with it. She turned and looked down. "Well, step on it!"

Soon, they were all in the air, floating on the oval boards. "Whoa, what are these things?" asked Anakin.

"I call them Skyboards," answered Ladora. "They'll help us get to where the Vong are without them seeing us. Just use you feet to control the direction you want to go in. The repulsors will do the rest. Let's go." She aimed forward toward the negative shadow. They had to move quickly, it was unclear how much time they had.

Ladora slowed the board to a complete stop as they reached the area the fight was in. She looked at Anakin to see his response. She could feel his concern in the Force. _Don't do anything stupid, Anakin._ "Caiya, lower your negative bubble so only pure light can be felt, all right?" She did not wait for an answer. She stepped off her board and it retracted back to its ordinal shape. She grabbed the board, placed it back in her belt and fell to the ground. Her blade was already ignited and it found its way into the Vong's shoulder.

* * *

Luke had thought it was over. The simple mission of finding a suitable base had gone wrong. The Vong had come here, too, and had outnumbered Luke and his friends. He had thought there was no escape this time. Then something strange happened. A silver blade came ripping through the Vong he had been fighting.

He broke off. The Vong turned, forgetting Luke for the moment, to see who had attacked him. Luke heard the attacks behind him stop as well. Everyone, Vong and human, seemed to be transfixed at the sight before them.

Four humanoids stood in attack stance. All were holding lightsabers. The attacked Vong started forward, clearly looking for revenge, but fell halfway in the attempt. As the creature tried to get up, the holder of the silver lightsaber stabbed him in the arm. The Vong stilled, but was still alive as his chest moved up and down. A cry of outrage was rose up and the Vong behind Luke ran forward to engage the mysterious warriors. The four branched out.

Luke raised his lightsaber to start the fight again, but he stopped. The tactics these newcomers were using were alarming him. The first wielded a gold lightsaber and was male. He was wearing a gold-brown flightsuit and helmet with a visor over his face. He was defending against a Vong when another came from behind him. He moved out of the way and the Vong ran into each other. The gold one stabbed the two at the same time, and then stabbed them again higher up on their bodies. They fell; clearly alive, but for some reason, not moving.

Still feeling shocked, Luke turned to look at the others. The one with the yellow lightsaber wearing an outfit resembling a body and a cat-like helmet was not much better. In fact, she was worse. She attacked the Vong outright, sometimes not even waiting for them to attempt to strike her. So many were falling under her blade, but all alive.

In the many years of living with war, he had never seen anything like this. At least not by his side. The strange thing was that all he was feeling from them was pure light! Luke turned his back on those two and focused on the dark blue male. His fighting style was better; he fought the Vong and waited for an opening before thrusting the blade into them. But it unnerved Luke for the boy to leave the Vong lying there in pain, even if they were the enemy. And then there was that mask.

"Luke! Look out!" He heard Leia's scream, but it was far too late. The silver warrior had already collided into him. They both fell to the ground and a staggering Vong, blood flowing from his wounds, prepared to strike. Luke reached for his lightsaber, but could not find it. The silver warrior reached for hers in front of them, but the Vong rammed his staff down, crushing the weapon.

She raised her arm, her hand in a tight fist, but nothing happened. She looked at her wrist, hit it and raised it again. Nothing. Luke looked around for his weapon. When he could not find it, he started to look for some object that might prolong the Vong's attack.

The Vong groaned. They both looked up to see a blue blade sticking out of the body. _Mara?_ But no, the Vong fell to reveal the blue warrior. He reached out his hand to help the silver one up, but she ignored him and got up on her own. Blue did not seem to be annoyed by that. He reached out his hand to Luke. He accepted it, but a tingle ran through his body. What was that?

"Are you all right, Luke?" asked Mara. She picked up his lightsaber, which had rolled out of his reach, and gave it back to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Luke as he clipped the saber to his belt. The mysterious warriors were now spraying something that looked like crystal on the Vong from their wrists. "Who are they?"

His wife gave him a disbelieving expression. "If I knew, farmboy, I would have explained to these kids the proper way to fight," replied Mara.

"It's like they appeared out of nowhere," said Jaina, looking at the sky as if trying to find a ship of some kind that might have transported their rescuers.

They stood there watching these 'Jedi' (if they could be called that) work. A few minutes later, the warriors stopped in front of them. "All right, who are you, kids? What are you doing and how in the blazes did you do all that?" demanded Han, waving his arm around at the crystal-encased Vong. Luke would have smiled at Han's behavior if the situation were not so serious.

The warriors looked at one another. Then Silver reached for something in her belt and placed it in Luke's hand. Everyone leaned forward to look at it. "What is it?" asked Jaina.

"It's an envelope," said Luke, confused. He opened it and out fell a datacard.

"Hey!" said Leia. "Look. They're leaving."

He looked up. The warriors were disappearing around a rock. All except one, the dark blue one. The one with that faceless mask.

* * *

Next chapter is the last one for part one. Then it's part two and more of Luke and the others. :D 


	12. Chapter Eleven: I Kept Them Safe

MistiWhitesun: Really? You think so?

I try, but I keep forgetting the other terms. I have a bad memory.

Princess-Aiel: Thanks. :) Here's the next one.

* * *

Chapter Eleven

"I Kept Them Safe"

"Where's Jacen?" Anakin asked as they started to walk away. His brother was not with his family. Was he on a mission of his own or was he badly hurt from their last one? That last thought made his stomach turn flip-flops.

"Oh, he's, ah, somewhere else, I guess," said Ladora. She knew where Jacen was. She had to. She was avoiding the question.

Anakin felt his angry rise up to the surface at having information kept from him. He did a couple of breathing exercises as Ken told Ladora, "Might as well tell him. I don't think it would distract him now."

Anakin was about to ask what the Jedi Prince was talking about when Ladora answered briefly, "Fine then! Jacen got captured by the Vong during your mission. It was after you went in your coma/trance."

"WHAT?? Why didn't you tell me?" Worry as well as angry swirled in his head; worry for the welfare of his brother and anger that he was not told about it.

"Because we wanted you focused on your training, not worrying about Jacen," answered Ladora in a tone that sounded like her answer explained everything.

Anakin was dumbfounded. That did not explain it. Jacen was his brother. He deserved to know right away if something bad had happened to his brother or any member of his family. When he got back to Naboo, he was going have a talk to two people. Why would **they**, of all people, keep this from him?

But then, as Anakin thought it over more, they were deeply concerned for him and it was true that he would have worried over Jacen. He might have ventured out to find him like he did with Tahiri. No doubt that they would have wanted to keep him from doing that.

He felt his angry fade. While he did not like having this kept from him, he could not find Jacen if he was angry at the very people who could help him. "We're going to find Jacen," he said, in a voice that was calm and determined to find his brother.

"Fine with me. I'm hoping that we'll come up on him while we're fighting, his Force signature is being difficult to reach." Ladora looked at her broken lightsaber she had retrieved. "Rene, bring the ship to these coordinates."

Rene's voice came back, through the comlink, a lot brighter than they last heard her, "Sure! So....we're not blowing up the compound?"

"You're not. I am. Blasted Vong's going to pay for destroying my lightsaber!"

Rene sighed and she reluctantly said she was coming.

Ken shook his head. "I can't believe you ran out of darts. And you're going to get in trouble for that lightsaber; you're not supposed to build one until you're sixteen."

"I have to have a lightsaber for this so it won't matter if I get in trouble. Besides, it would be a miracle if I didn't get in trouble."

Anakin stopped and watched his three friends disappear behind a rock. He turned and looked at his family. They were staring at him with curious, yet fearful expressions. He wanted to run back, tear off his mask and be welcomed back with open arms, but something kept him from doing that. It was the same something that happened when he first woke up and realized what had happened.

_Anakin whispered, more to himself than anyone else, "I'll never see them again!"_

_The man withdrew his arms and took his hand to raise Anakin's face so that their eyes would meet. "Anakin, what does your heart tell you?"_

"_Huh?" What was he talking about? What could his heart tell him?_

_Anakin," he said in a gentle, but persistent voice, "Does your heart tell you that you will see your family again?"_

_Anakin reluctantly complied. He closed his eyes. So he had to listen to his heart? "Yes," he opened his eyes, tears slowly running down his cheeks. "I will." Then added uncertainly because he was not sure if that was his heart speaking or his own wishful desire, "I think."_

"_Then you will. You will see the ones you know and love again," he said and then smiled. "Perhaps you will see your family sooner than you think."_

His grandfather was right. He would see them again and nothing would tear them apart. When that happened, his family would be whole for the first time, he was sure of this. He took his lightsaber and, unlit, raised it to his head, saluting them. It was the only thing he knew to ease their fears.

He turned around and walked around the rock. He had a job to do, one he had to finish if he wanted his family back, and a promise to keep, despite the fact he had already fulfilled it once, just now. He walked into the black hole that was waiting for him. _I kept them safe,_ he thought. As he stepped on the metal floor that was the _Probe_, the black hole closed behind, leaving his old family behind and reunited him with is new friends...and family.

_I kept them safe, Grandmother._

_I kept them safe._

End Part One

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Well, Part Two is next. At this rate, I'll be at the spot where I'm at the JC. You guys will be so used to the semi-regular posts here, you'll come after me! :p


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